Introduction
Welcome to our straw bale greenhouse. The following page will take you with us on our greenhouse building adventure. We will discus the process, what worked best and did not work, problems we had, how much time it took to build, and the money spent on the project. Over all we hope that this is a fun and comprehensive look at what we did to make this project come together. The reason that we chose to build a straw bales greenhouse is that both Scott (my building partner) and I would like to get into alternative building as a career and we thought that this would be a good place to start and learn from.
Our Plan
To build a straw bale greenhouse where Kiva can grow chili peppers, tomatoes, and lots of other yummy warm weather plants. The reason we decided to build with straw bale was to gain experience with this material and the great insulative value of it. Scott and I decided to have two of the walls straw bale and the other two wood and glass. Where we live no permits are required for a ten by twelve greenhouse so we decided these would be the inside dimensions. To receive optimal winter sun in our area the glass on the south facing wall is at a 40 degree angle. At the building sight there is a lot of morning sun and not much evening sun so we opted to have our east side be glass and our west side be straw bale. (insert drawing of plan)
Building Process
Foundation
Framing
Windows
Roof
Siding
Bale walls
Plaster
Garden beds
Floor
Finished
Conclusion
Updates
Problems within the first year
Two year update
Time Table
All of our time is measured by how many hours it would take one person to complete a portion of the project. Mostly there were two people working at once and sometimes it was as many as forty, so we broke it down into the amount of time it would take one person to do the work by him or herself.
Research: 24 hours probably a lot more here. Shopping: 30 hours Digging: 34 hours Building forms and preparing to pour: 21 hours Purring concrete: 32 hours Building the frame: 68 hours Staining the wood: 27 hours Putting roof on: 20 hours Shaping floor: 6 hours Doorframe: 5 hours Glass roof: 19 hours Windows: 20 hours Siding: 21 hours Bales: 32 hours Preparing bales: 18 hours Stuccoing: 303 hours Retaining wall: 6 hours Beds: 18 hours Fixing leak: 12 hours Misc: 36 hours Total hours worked: 742 hours
Money, Money, Money
This is all the money that was spent on the greenhouse. We kept it divided up so we could get an idea of where the most costly areas were. By doing this we can find ways to cut back expenses in the future.
Wood: $670.00 Hardware: $314.00 Reciprocation Hammer Rental: $50.00 Lag Bolts: $25.00 Windows: $240.00 Door: $15.00 Concrete: $316.00 Tarps: $89.00 Barrel: $18.00 Pipe: $16.00 Stake Puller: $4.00 Gravel: $33.00 Roofing: $345.00 Stain: $74.00 Sealant: $52.00 Straw Bales: $174.00 Siding: $122.00 Cement Mixer Rental: $32.00 Sand: $52.00 Clay: $10.00 Misc: $60.00 Misc Rentals: $88.00 Total money spent: $2772.00